Author Comments

Disclaimer: If things get too rough, turn on the checkpoints from the main menu. Be careful though because you will not earn achievements while you are using them.

Dangerous Dungeons tells us a story about Timmy, a little thief- err, treasure hunter, who has arrived to a deep and dark dungeon, ready to face the dangers inside to claim the biggest treasure in the world. DD Has been made to look and play like old classic platformers, so it can be quite challenging, so watch out! Awesome music by KungFuFurby!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Use arrow keys to move and Z to jump. (can be changed from main menu)
Activate Switches and pick up keys by simply touching them.
Press R to restart a stage.
Press P to pause the game.
Press Esc to return to the main menu.

Doors in the stage selection open when you reach their corresponding stage the first time in either normal gameplay or Time Attack. The game will save between stages, so you can always continue your adventure later without losing progress!

Time Attack Mode:
If you choose Time Attack from the main menu, the game skips the intro and all cutscenes, and the game begins right away from the Stage 1. In this mode, two counters appear in the top right corner, other counts how long it took you to beat the game, other counts your total deaths. The final scores will be saved on scoreboards at the end of the game. Returning to main menu or entering secret stage the normal way will terminate your time so be careful!

Secret Stages:
The game has three hidden levels that are required to be beaten for you to reach the definitely final stage. You will receive hints how to find them after you beat Stage 30. These stages are not entered from doors, but by exiting the screen from the right area.

The game has won the Summer Game Jam 2011 contest!
community.stencyl.com/ind ex.php/topic,1968.0.html

I'm giving you 5 stars as this is a good game and I don't think it's worth losing a star over, but there is a bug in the levels where you walk on a log which rises/falls with the water. As it's rising, you can get caught on a corner of a block in a certain way and this freezes the game and makes the browser unresponsive.

My advice to players: Be very careful to line yourself up so you don't hit any corners of blocks as you're on the rising log in some of the water levels.

*Disclaimer: I know I'm nitpicky in this review and many of my others, but I don't take many points off for minor problems and mention them just so they can be acknowledged and worked on for future games. We're all trying to help make others' games better here.

The Good: Level 6 made me laugh. I'm not going to say why for those who want to experience it themselves, but it was very funny on the first encounter. There were other times where you managed to make me laugh, and I can tell you intended to do just that. The music was good. Not great, but good. It didn't get too repetitive, it actually changed when you entered a new set of levels to give some variety, and it stayed in the background when it needed to. The "level complete" sound effect was good. I liked the way you gave me the small reward of hearing that sound and knowing I had finished another level. Speaking of which, in the cutscenes you actually gave the character some treasure. Not only was this a cool reward as you played the game, but it offered an incentive to keep playing so as to find the rest of the loot. If you had just piled a bunch of gold coins and goblets at the end, it would've been boring having to count how many levels were left before you could finally get something for your efforts, so kudos for keeping me interested in yet another pixilized pile of riches. The actual rewards were nice too; time attack is pretty cool and should be in more games, and the fact that your achievements were also medals is very appreciated.

The Bad:

Not everything needs a sound effect!-While the sound affect that plays when you finish a level is a nice touch, not everything needs a sound effect. Case in point: the "death" sound. It was mildly amusing the first time, but lost all its charm when it played again and again and again every time you died. The "Lolol you died" tone it set would've been fitting in a game like Unfair Platformer or I Wanna Be The Flash Game, but in a game as average as this in terms of difficulty it only made it irritating to hear. The boulder level was quite easy. Indiana Jones could've taken that trophy, had a cup of tea, watched the footy game, and still been able to stroll out untouched. If you planned on making that level hard, you should fix the speed on it so that it actually gives a sense of urgency. Speaking of which, the squid from level 20. How come it waited so long before going after me? It was harder than the first boss, but really only because the level was longer and harder to complete within a time limi, so that actually doesn't make it harder, only more annoying, which I'll get back to later. In fact, the squid level was really just a longer rehash of the boulder level. I am glad you gave a reason he can't swim, albeit a stupid one, but still, what kind of thrill-seeking daredevil treasure hunter can't even swim? That's a real pain in the sewer levels MOSTLY FLOODED WITH WATER! In fact, in the levels with draining/flooding water, you can actually die from going too deep in the water right before it drains away, indicating he doesn't actually drown, but simply dies when he goes too deep in the stuff. Is he so aquaphobic he can't even touch water without thinking, "Oh well, better kick the bucket then..."? I can only put this down as a glitch, seeing as it was just poor programming that caused it. The puzzles, if there even were any I could actually call "puzzles", were too easy. I barely had to think in order to know where to put the box. Also, those blocks from level 14 that alternated between on and off were a good concept, but having to time your jumps a bunch of times was annoying. Not hard, since the blocks took their time in switching so that the window of opportunity was very large, but annoying because you had to do it so darn often. As a side note, the stage select was weird and a little slow to get around. What happened to simple squares with level numbers?

The Fatal Flaw: This is what the whole review has been leading up to. This game is NOT hard. It is annoying. There is a difference and I will explain it briefly with a boss example. Picture a boss that takes 5 hits, but to hit it you have to dodge a large amount of bullets/monsters, grab some item or something, find the weak point after some trial and error, and hit that weak point. The boss gets progressively faster, sends out more enemies, uses more moves to catch you off guard, and/or offers less opportunity to hit its weak spot. That is hard. Now picture that same boss with a somewhat easier to guess pattern, an easier to hit weak point, etc. Better, right? Yes, except it takes 20 hits to kill and there's a time limit. That is ANNOYING. I wish I could think up a more clever example, one that fits with the genre you're pushing, but alas, the definition between hard and annoying is difficult enough to explain as it is. It's really something the game creator needs to practice and experience themselves if they want to really understand that fine line. I personally have no problem with the annoying rage-inducing game genre, in fact it's kinda my speciality, but I do have a problem with an easy game that uses artificial difficulty instead of making the game actually harder, therefore making it annoying. I'd even go so far to say that you tried to make an easy or moderately difficult game, but the fact that you included the tag "hard" forces me to the conclusion that you tried and failed to make an easy game hard!

Conclusion: A promising start, but the artificial difficulty in the "obstacle course with something large chasing you" levels and the overall inaccuracy of your idea of "hard" made me have to quit the game. If it really was hard, I'd have kept playing for the sense of accomplishment, but unfortunately I don't think this game will give me that any more. I think you can do better than this if you could only fix your difficulty problems.